Someone Tried to Assassinate Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan, and Everyone Has a (Conspiracy) Theory
Former Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan was shot four times in both legs yesterday as he took part in a protest march supposed to end in the capital, Islamabad, calling for new elections. One of two alleged shooters, who between them killed one person and wounded at least ten, soon appeared in a confession video released by police. In it, he said he was motivated to stop Khan, whom he regarded as insufficiently pious, “misguiding the people”.
Khan’s camp dismissed the video as a “crude cover-up”. Asad Umar, secretary-general of Khan’s Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) party, relayed an accusation, ostensibly directly from his leader, that blamed Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, Interior Minister Rana Sanaullah, and Major General Faisal Naseer, the director of the counter-intelligence division of the Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) agency. Umar said there would be nationwide protests until these three individuals were removed. Khan himself said three people were behind the attack, but did not divulge their names.